Conversation: The what-ifs of the Holocaust and Israel

I reprint here a conversation which took place on a discussion board. I think it is deeply meaningful.

Dear E,

I don’t know how old you are, whether you were around sixty years ago. But that really doesn’t matter. I am sure you know our recent history. Had we had our Jewish state then, it is quite possible that my paternal grandfather and all my father’s siblings together with their families would have been spared their gruesome fate. I am sorry, E, to resort to the Holocaust. But THAT is what it boils down to.

While I fully AGREE with you that our Jewish state is not democratic, I am NOT ready to conclude from that that we should abandon this state of ours, – as long as the world is run the way it is, i.e., divided into ridiculous little nation states, each one waving its silly piece of coloured rag…

There should be no discrimination between one Israeli and another. Period. Hopefully we will get to that eventually. I agree with you that one may have doubts… The same as on ending the Occupation…

Best regards, Z

Dear Z,60 years ago I was 9 growing up in Haifa Palestine where I was born, and my family too except for my parents was murdered in Europe (Latvia).

“If we had the Jewish state then” – we did not, so it is not relevant to anything happening today.

What does give me a lot of thought and bother regarding the holocaust, is that what Hitler did to the Jewish people is possibly not finished. The damage to the Jewish people collective psyche and mental structure is not finished and is continuing to wreak havoc on our people – “ad shileshim v’ribe’eem” (to the 3rd and 4th generation) as it is written in the bible, (not without good reason!) when disasters and punishments are discussed.

I see the situation now similar to your’s mentioning the holocaust, but with a difference. Here I am sorry to say, the blame is not only on Hitler who continues to destruct the Jewish people from his cursed grave, but our people are to blame too – in not being able to finish that horrible chapter in our history, but continue to dwell on it practically every day in every deed every step every action every non-action for the past 60 years, and worse – with no end in sight, and with cumulative disastrous results and consequences.

You probably know that what people fear most they usually bring on themselves. There is no mystery or unknown power doing it, but the constant dwelling on it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy and and self sustaining driving force, just like “the whole world is against us”, is. we do all we can to daily prove that it is true by giving the world the reasons to hate us. True for nations just as it is for people.

If Israel (and the diaspora Jews) does not wise up, mature and becomes capable of putting the holocaust in the past where it belongs, with one remembrance and mourning day a year, and continues to use and abuse it on all levels of thought ideology action and inaction, the future cannot be better than the past and possibly actually be worse.

You write, “of course there should be no discrimination between one Israeli and another”.Great words, except you live in Israel, so you should know that this is not going to happen any time soon, or ever.